Publications

Across the EU, local authorities play a leading role in the climate transition. They have core responsibilities in the sectors that are central to reducing emissions, including transport and buildings. They are also major contributors to the public investment necessary for achieving carbon neutrality. When local authorities develop their climate transition plans, including for example to expand the public transport networks and retrofit public buildings to increase energy efficiency, they must also plan for significant public investments.  

Europe’s local authorities have a crucial role to play in meeting the EU’s objective for climate neutrality in 2050 and the critical milestones for emission reductions in 2030. They manage important building stocks and transport networks, develop climate strategies, action and investment plans, while engaging stakeholders and citizens in the climate transition. Turning climate policy ambition into reality, local authorities are responsible for implementing a lot of EU’s Green Deal legislative measures. The EU’s high-profile Mission for 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 recognises this central role with a pledge for leading cities to trace a fast track towards a climate neutral urban future for others to follow. 

Climate change and ecological planning are taking centre stage in this autumn’s budgetary measures. The public finance programming act, which has yet to be discussed with the Senate, now requires the government to set out a multi-year funding strategy for planning. The finance bill for 2024, which will go through Parliament soon, earmarks an additional €7 billion in transition support for households, businesses and local authorities. This €7 billion does not, however, resolve the issue of financing the climate transition, and in this post we provide an overview of the key climate debates that will take place, or ought to take place according to I4CE, during this veritable marathon budget.

The French government has just published the environmental budget assessment, or ‘Green Budget’ of its 2022 draft budget. Morgane Nicol of I4CE and Michel Colombier of IDDRI offer insights into these exercises, which are becoming more popular in many countries and local authorities. They highlight that the environmental budget assessment does not dispense with an Ecological Transition Strategy. Instead, […]

June 2019, the heat wave that affects France and part of Europe takes centre stage. However, we should be less and less surprised by this type of weather event which, with climate change, is becoming more and more common. To see this, take a look at the ClimatHD portal put online by Météo France to disseminate the main climate projections in France.